Review of The Class (2007) by Jim H — 16 Feb 2011

Francois Begaudeau's memoir/novel about teaching in inner city Paris provides the basis for The Class, which inventively combines the best of the documentary and classic drama genres. The film is the result of numerous improvisation exercises with a mix of real students and young actors; many of the characters' first names are the actors' first names. The effect is a film that perfectly renders the classroom experience. I would find it difficult to believe someone who said s/he didn't feel what it is like to be in that classroom.

From a thematic perspective, The Class's American counterparts are Dangerous Minds and Freedom Writers, but these films often deploy the teacher-as-savior motif that characterizes much of how teachers are portrayed in cinema. In these films the teacher becomes a moral coach before s/he concentrates on course content. S/he is teacher-as-inspiration before teacher-as-teacher. But this motif is not deployed in The Class. Though we certainly have moments when Marin delves into a moral tangent, I cannot say that he emerges as the unquestioned hero in the way that protagonists in other films do. And if the film questions the protagonist, it does so subtly. In fact, toward the beginning, educator to educator, I couldn't tell what he was doing wrong.

Oftentimes the film is quite bleak, portraying student resistance in realistic and dramatically compelling ways. And though by the end of the film, we're left wondering how education is even possible, there is a measure of hope in the realization that the system of pedagogy is generally sound, that students are generally well-meaning and capable, and that somehow many people emerge from the morass of adolescence and structured schooling as predominantly well-adjusted individuals.

Overall, The Class is a remarkable film that proves beyond a doubt that teaching is the hardest job on the planet.